Driving beats violence for emotional gaming

VIDEO games don't have to be violent to trigger an emotional response. It turns out that driving games can activate more brain regions involved in emotional processing than shoot 'em ups.

Many studies have suggested that violence in video games could be linked to aggression. To investigate further, Simon Goodson and Sarah Pearson of the University of Huddersfield in the UK recruited 30 adults aged between 18 and 45 to play either a competitive driving game, a shoot 'em up or virtual table tennis against computer-generated competitors. Brain activity, heart rate and breathing were all monitored during the game, and a questionnaire afterwards assessed their levels of anger, hostility and aggression.

The volunteers scored normally for aggression after playing the driving and shoot 'em up games, while those playing the table tennis game scored as slightly less aggressive than the average for the volunteers. However, when it came to ...

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